Marlboro Township, New Jersey

Marlboro Township is a township in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is located within the Raritan Valley region and is a part of the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 41,502, an increase of 1,311 (+3.3%) from the 2010 census count of 40,191, which in turn reflected an increase of 5,449 (+16.3%) from the 33,423 counted in the 2000 census. Marlboro Township was formed by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 17, 1848, from portions of Freehold Township. The township was named for the marl beds found in the area. The Lenni Lenape Native Americans were the first known organized inhabitants of this area, having settled here about one thousand years ago and forming an agricultural society, occupying small villages that dotted what was to become Marlboro Township. Their villages were known to be in the Wickatunk and Crawford's Corner sections of the township. In 1600, the Delaware / Lenape Native American population in the surrounding area may have numbered as many as 20,000. Several wars, at least 14 separate epidemics (yellow fever, smallpox, influenza, encephalitis lethargica, etc.) and disastrous over-harvesting of the animal populations reduced their population to around 4,000 by the year 1700. Since the Lenape people, like all Native Americans, had no immunity to European diseases, when the populations contacted the epidemics, they frequently proved fatal. Some Lenape starved to death as a result of animal over-harvesting, while others were forced to trade their land for goods such as clothing and food. They were eventually moved to reservations set up by the US Government. They were first moved to the only Indian Reservation in New Jersey, the Brotherton Reservation in Burlington County, New Jersey (1758–1802). Those who remained survived through attempting to adapt to the dominant culture, becoming farmers and tradesmen.